Dino Saga 070812 _ Little Things

Dino Saga 070812 _ Little Things

Got nice comments on the Forza article. Zach Mayne did a great job on both photos and text. Thanks go to him. I just had fun. A few folks noticed his mention of the second oil filler that is not there. Zach noted some other simplifications on my Dino. All in the interests of easy do-it-yourself maintenance. And improved performance. Not all got into the article. This might be a good time to put them all in one place so here goes.

Oil filler was gone when I bought the car. Prior owner raced the car and did not need it in the way. I agonized over replacing it until I studied the engine cutaways. There is plenty of space in the chain gallerys for oil vapor to get out. One vent to the oil separator is plenty. Why did the factory add the second filler? I quickly found out when I changed the oil. There was no vent to the crankcase and pouring oil fast caused burps that made a mess of things. The cure is trivial but seems to have been too subtle for Ferrari. Just lift the dip-stick an inch and the crankcase vents nicely through the dip-stick tube. After filling, push dip-stick down, check level and all done. The second filler is nothing but a second vent to the oil separator. Buy a used cam cap from GT Car Parts, make up a new hose and you can get the filler, crossover hose and tee out of the way.

The Perma-Tune ignition module had replaced the Dinoplex. I have not had any problems there at all. Tach drive and spark are right on. The steering wheel I got was a 10” OD Momo Prototipo. Hard on the shoulders when parking and it completely blocked speedo and tach where it counted. Replaced it with a 14.5” diameter Prototipo. Works out just fine. Easy parking, good visibility and still fast enough steering for anything you want to do on the street. I also inherited the Gotti 16” light alloy wheels. Unfortunately they came shod with Goodyear Eagles of unknown vintage. They followed every groove in the road and were an adventure to drive at high speeds. Falken supplied the next set and life was good. Ran through two sets until Falken got hard to find. Tried Yokohama. Fair. Seemed looser than the Falkens near the limit. Kept trying and have Kumhos on now. Not as good as the Falkens but better than Yokohama. I know performance is subjective but tires were bought on price, life and VR rating or better, not pure performance. 30,000 miles has been typical. Falken is getting more available and I will go back.

My modifictions were removing the AC compressor, lines and condenser. Freed up room for fans and increased air flow through radiator. Great help when mountain driving. Much easier to get at alternator. Exchanged voltage regulator for a Chrysler replacement. Original was electromechanical and wandered all over on charge and voltage. Added diode across starter solenoid wire. Made my own alternator fuse panel on rear firewall. Put homemade radio antenna in front fender. Got rid of 12 feet of antenna cable that lost most of the signal from the retractable whip in the rear fender. New antenna cable is only 3 ft long and does not go anywhere near ignition or alternator wiring. Added a master throttle stop. Carb synch and idle settings last forever. Everything else has been replace and repair. Can’t think of a car I would trade my Dino for. The Dino’s are drivers, and drivers love ‘em. Coming up on 192,000 miles and smiling.

John
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Long time ago now and don't have any part numbers. Bought it from Pep Boys. Replaces old Chrysler 3 wire regulators. Maybe 80s? Needs Battery, Field and Ground. I mounted it using only one of the regulator bolts and it has done fine for 10-15 years and about 100,000 miles. Original battery and field wires fit fine. About $20 at that time.

John